The State Department confirmed Wednesday that officials from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea held an informal meeting during six-party nuclear crisis talks in Beijing.

"As anticipated, as we talked about, Assistant Secretary James Kelly had an informal exchange" with DPRK representatives in the plenary meeting room at the end of the day, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told reporters.

But "there are no plans for a more formal encounter" between the two countries, the spokesman noted.

"This is a process, it's the beginning of a process," the spokesman said of the six-party talks in Beijing. "I don't have further details to offer regarding substance of these talks," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2003)